Ed Martin speaks at an event hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., at the Capitol in Washington, June 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)
A left-leaning nonprofit group sued the DOJ on Wednesday claiming the government has resisted "proper" and "expedited" attempts to uncover behind-the-scenes details about a so-called "chief enforcer" for President Donald Trump.
According to the complaint, brought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the DOJ should be forced to comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and "shed light" on Ed Martin's activities in government from May onward based on "credible, publicly disclosed whistleblower allegations" that the Federal Records Act and DOJ's own policy surrounding records preservation have been violated.
The allegations were raised in a mid-November letter to Martin from Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., which stated it appeared Martin was "violating federal law by concealing and destroying [his] communications in order to hide the activities of" the DOJ's Weaponization Working Group, which the U.S. pardon attorney and former interim U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia heads as director.
Placing Martin at the center of criminal cases against New York Attorney General Letitia James and ex-FBI Director James Comey that have, at least so far, failed, Raskin alleged Martin is "apparently compounding this already unacceptable weaponization and lack of transparency by seeing to it that even the most basic records of [his] activities will never see the light of day," through use of apps like Signal that autodelete messages — in potential violation of federal records laws.
"My staff have received credible allegations that you have been using personal devices, platforms, and applications that do not adhere to federal laws and DOJ policies regarding records retention to conduct official DOJ business," the congressman's letter claimed. "This deliberate evasion of relevant rules of record retention appears to be part of an effort to conceal the Weaponization Working Group's activities and your own conduct."
Reports swirled Wednesday that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's use of Signal, a controversy dubbed Signalgate after The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed he was added to a group chat ahead of U.S. military strikes in Yemen, will be the subject of an inspector general report as soon as tomorrow.
Warning Martin of possible "civil and criminal penalties, including charges for obstruction of justice and destruction of evidence[,]" Raskin reminded "one of America's top-ranking federal lawyers" he is "obligated to follow the law [himself] and preserve messages related to [his] DOJ work in the official DOJ systems."
"Your purported failure to do so," Raskin continued, "is not only illegal but it also suggests that you are knowingly covering up incriminating conversations that you need to keep off the books."
After the whistleblower allegations were raised, the DOJ reportedly declined to comment.
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American Oversight's suit, repeating these allegations, states the litigation comes after Martin and the DOJ's "silence" on the issue.
"Since Representative Raskin publicized the 'credible allegations' against Ed Martin on November 17, 2025, neither DOJ nor Ed Martin has issued any form of public communication or acknowledgment regarding the substance of the allegations, nor has DOJ indicated publicly that it is making any internal inquiries," the complaint said, further claiming that nine "expedited" processing requests under FOIA have either been denied or gone without "determination."
"DOJ's silence in the face of credible, publicly disclosed whistleblower allegations heightens the public's urgent need for information about Martin in his current roles," the lawsuit went on. "The credible allegations also underscore that expedited processing of Plaintiff American Oversight's FOIA requests is a critical mechanism by which the public can timely learn whether appropriate steps are being taken to preserve these records."
American Oversight Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said in a statement on the case that the "public can't trust a justice system that lets powerful officials operate in the shadows, leaving no record of how they use — or increasingly abuse — their authority."
"If Ed Martin is hiding or destroying government records to conceal a campaign of political retribution, it isn't simply a process concern — it's a threat to the rule of law itself," Chukwu added. "The Justice Department must stop stalling and release these records immediately so the American people can see the truth for themselves."
American Oversight has been a thorn in the side of the Trump administration, through records-related litigation against DHS and in efforts to force the disclosure of Volume II of ex-special counsel Jack Smith's report on the classified documents probe of Trump, Trump's valet, and a Mar-a-Lago property manager.
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